My desktop, on which I run FS9 had been skweerly of late, with graphics issues when I'd change planes or airports/scenery. Finally, it gave up the ghost with what I suspected were vid card issues (this was a pretty hot gaming system at the time, just under three years ago).

Took to local guy, who contacted Gateway and it turned out that I still had 40 days on warranty.

Can we send a part? Oh, no. It was a proprietary vid card from Nvidia and there is no room on mother board for any equivalent replacement or better. Must be sent in (I suspect they have no more of those cards and will have to rework the entire system to get something on the mobo). So, I'm effectively without my primary system, but should get it back in two weeks. I hope it's recognizable and that the HD survives the transition.

So, my investment in repair will be about $150 (to local guy who did diagnosis and handling shipping and interface with Gateway), which is not bad. Thankfully, I have a year old laptop that is pretty hot and almost all my stuff is backed up on it and a WD external HD (let me not have Chuck's problems with that). Yes, I keep all my stuff in triplicate.

Just sharing my pain. Maybe I'll get a hotter vid card than what was in there, which was not bad at all.

Sympathies, Askiepops.
This is why so many are now turning to building their own;
The pre-builders neglect to mention that only they can upgrade much of the system in their advertising.

I hope you're not forking out that $150.00 you were talking about.
If the machine's still under warranth, it's still under warranty.
It's not your fault it doesn't work, nor that Gateway don't have the right card.
Any costs involved in getting it back to the standard you paid for should be borne by them, even if they have to replace the entire motherboard to do it.

If you get a hotter vid card, be careful.
Hog-Roasts are desireable for the rest of us.
The hogs tend not to be so keen.

$45 + $75 to local guy for diagnostics and shipping/receiving, case file with Gateway. I've developed a low tolerance for dealing with these kind of minutiae of detail in my old age.

Gateway is charging nothing.

Curious to see exactly what comes back. I'm betting it will be a major work-around with a different mobo that accomodate a vid card that can fit. It may be unrecognizable inside. If it last another two years, it will still have been a good investment.